BRITAIN: British police got more time to question nine men arrested in anti-terror raids earlier this week after a court granted a custody extension yesterday, a police spokeswoman said.
The men, aged between 19 and 32, were being held at a central London police station following their dramatic arrests in co-ordinated daylight raids across the country on Tuesday.
"The extension is until Tuesday for all nine suspects," the spokeswoman said. A previous extension, granted on Thursday, had expired.
Police said they were no longer questioning two of the suspects seized on Tuesday over terror-related activities but were still holding them on suspicion of possessing forged identity papers.
Two other men detained in the raids were released without charge earlier in the week.
At the time of the arrests, the police would only say the men were suspected of "being involved in the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism".
One of the two men re-arrested yesterday - Mohammed Dawoud (19) of Chapter Road, Willesden - will appear before Horseferry Road Magistrates Court tomorrow charged with possession of forged identity documents, police said.
A second 24-year-old man re-arrested yesterday was bailed after being questioned over alleged forged identity documents, but has been further detained on immigration matters.
Britain has arrested more than 600 people under terrorism laws since the September 11th, 2001, attacks in the United States. But fewer than 100 have been charged and only 15 convicted.
Information from an al-Qaeda operative detained in Pakistan led to the arrests in Britain. A US intelligence official said one of those held was Abu Musa al-Hindi, also known as Abu Eissa al-Hindi, and said he was a key al-Qaeda operative in Britain.
Details emerged yesterday of possible terrorist targets found on captured al-Qaeda computers, including a downloaded picture of the UK finance minister, Mr Gordon Brown, and possible plans to use helicopters to attack New York. Mr Brown's image was found in files related to the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, Time magazine reported yesterday.